How the Capitals will Line Up for Saturday’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals (Changes!)

Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals are back in Tampa after dropping their last two games at home. The Tampa Bay Lightning have evened the series at two, setting up a crucial Game 5 on Saturday night. One of these teams will be one win away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final at the end of the night while the other will be just one loss away from a summer vacation they didn’t necessarily want to start yet. Here is how the Caps will line up for this all-important game, based on line rushes from morning skate at Amalie Arena.

Hot. Lap. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/OVV5ZEMSUX

— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) May 19, 2018

CAPITALS LINES
Here’s how the lines looked at morning skate:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Stephenson-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Smith Pelly-Beagle-Chiasson
Defense
Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos
Starter’s net: Braden Holtby

NOTES
Nicklas Backstrom reunites with the second line. Lars Eller moves back to center the third line. Jakub Vrana moves down to the third line while Chandler Stephenson moves up to the second line. Alex Chiasson is back in the lineup.

Andre Burakovsky is the odd man out. In Burakovsky’s four games since returning to action after an upper-body injury, he had no points and just two shots on goal.

No changes to the defensive pairs.

On special teams there could be a few changes to the power play

Look for some interesting changes to the Caps PP tonight. They’ve gone through a few different looks, including Ovechkin on the right side. Oshie was manning the point briefly. Could be some more movement introduced.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 19, 2018

By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo

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Join NoVa Caps and hundreds of #Caps fans as we join together to watch #CapsBolts Game 5 tomorrow night at Crystal City Sports Pub! We will be fundraising for @usawarriors and even celebrating @kuzy092’s birthday! You won’t want to miss this one. Puck drop is at 7:15 p.m.

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on May 18, 2018 at 12:04pm PDT

About Michael Marzzacco

Michael is an avid DC sports fan with a passion for writing. He has followed the Washington Capitals since the 2003-04 season, around the time his enthusiasm for DC teams really began. It was from the days when they had the worst record in the league to when they became the most exciting team in the area. His Dad took him to his first Caps game a couple of years later. One of his favorite memories was being in the stands during the 2015 Winter Classic where Troy Brouwer scored the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left. Michael graduated from Radford University in May 2016, earning a degree in journalism and focusing on sports journalism and broadcasting. His goal is to work in sports media in Washington, D.C.

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